For those of you who have taken a magnesium supplement as a stool softening agent, can you tell me whether you took this together with a stool softener such as miralax? What time of day do you generally take the magnesium and/or miralax for best effect?

I took mag along with Colace at night (prior to starting Miralax).

what was your experience with magnesium? I have been taking Miralax since about May of last year and it does soften the stool, but not as consistently as I would like. I know that is partly due to changes in my diet from day to day, but I'd like to find something that would give me a little room to varry my diet a little from time to time. It's really difficult to consume so much fiber on the weekends and such.

I was taking several supplements (and medicines) to treat my constipation. Because juggling so many different treatments can be challenging, my Mayo GI doc told me to just take Miralax and adjust that dose as necessary along with fiber supplements, and that is what I do now and have been doing for the past few years. I also read where you can take too much magnesium, which always worried me about taking it.

I know that I've read your story on here before, but can you remind me.....did you have LIS? You went to the Mayo in MN right? And you did the pelvic floor retraining program? If you did not have LIS, was your fissure healed prior to going to Mayo? I'm trying to decide how to proceed and I am inches away from finding a CRS who will do LIS on me, but I'd much prefer to avoid it.

I did not have LIS. I did go to Mayo in MN where I took the 10-day pelvic floor retraining class in 2009. I went to Mayo the past three summers, but not this current (just passed) summer. I was in various stages of dealing with my fissure during each of those visits. In July of 2008 I had to undergo an enema prior to taking the anal rectal manometry test which showed that I had pelvic floor dysfunction. I waited until the following summer (2009) to take the actual class even though I had a couple of opportunities to take it prior to last year. (There is a five month waiting period to get into the class, and they have a 70% success rate for it.) You live in Minnesota, or is it Toronto? I'll have to start writing persons and locales down in order to try to remember! :roll:

I actually live in New Mexico and I have been to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, but they do not offer that program. I have been receiving treatment for my pelvic floor dysfunction and pudendal neuralgia at a clinic in San Francisco, but it has consisted primarily of pudendal nerve blocks and internal physical therapy. This clinic has recently hired a nurse who specializes in biofeedback for people with pelvic floor dysfunction and have difficulty with bowel evacuation and I am scheduled to see her in a couple of weeks, but my pain level is so high right now from what I believe to be a new anal fissure that I am thinking of canceling. Was the program at mayo biofeedback? Was it this program that actually healed your fissure or did you do something else to get the fissure healed?

I remember you live in New Mexico. Sorry! The program a Mayo was biofeedback. I postponed taking the Pelvic Floor Retraining Class twice due to a fear of making my butt worse and aggravating my fissure. I was pretty much already healed by the time I finally took the class and my nurse therapist and I agreed that I would use the Diliatzem ointment at night during the class as the sessions involve inserting an instrument into the butt. The Diliatzem ointment really healed me along with getting my Miralax adjusted and adding the fiber supplements (Metamucil and Benefiber).
I think very highly of the Mayo Clinic. Actually don't have a lot of confidence in many of our local providers. Have you tried Diliatzem ointment or Botox????? I forgot (again). :roll:

Have not tried Diliatzem ointment, but I do use Nifedipine ointment every day. Obviously it is not working :( Have not done botox, mainly because I have not found a provider locally who does it. I was really looking forward to seeing the biofeedback nurse this month, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing it with the possibility of an active fissure. How much miralax do you take and what is your normal daily diet like?

I currently take about 5 teaspoons pf Miralax daily, which is slightly less than 1 capful/sachet. I ate badly a couple of days ago and paid for it yesterday. Normally, I can eat about anything I wish, but now I have gotten stricter with diet again. I usually eat a Fiber One Bar in the am and am getting back into eating whole wheat bread and turkey again. When I am not running the A/C, I eat a lot of baked tuna casseroles (with cooked carrots and cooked potatoes), and baked stuffed peppers. I also used to eat a lot of squash and baked sweet potatoes when I was really watching my diet closely. How often do you use the Nifedipine and how long have you been using it? My nurse therapist told me lots of people have pelvic floor issues!